“I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection.”

- CHARLES DARWIN

Charles DarwinNaturalist, 1809 -1882

Charles Robert Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. Darwin was born on the same day as Abraham Lincoln. He was the fifth child and second son of Robert Waring Darwin and Susannah Wedgwood. Darwin was the British naturalist who became famous for his theories of evolution and natural selection. Like several scientists before him, Darwin believed all the life on earth evolved (developed gradually) over millions of years from a few common ancestors.

In 1831, Darwin set out on H.M.S. Beagle as a self-financed gentleman companion to the 26-year-old captain, Robert Fitzroy. The Beagle was on a British science expedition around the world. In South America Darwin found fossils of extinct animals that were similar to modern species. On the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean he noticed many variations among plants and animals of the same general type as those in South America. The expedition visited places around the world, and Darwin studied plants and animals everywhere he went, collecting specimens for further study.

Upon his return to London in 1836, Darwin conducted thorough research of his notes and specimens. Out of this study grew several related theories: one, evolution did occur; two, evolutionary change was gradual, requiring thousands to millions of years; three, the primary mechanism for evolution was a process called natural selection; and four, the millions of species alive today arose from a single original life form through a branching process called “speciation.”

Darwin's work had a tremendous impact on religious thought. Many people strongly opposed the idea of evolution because it conflicted with their religious convictions. Darwin avoided talking about the theological and sociological aspects of his work, but other writers used his theories to support their own theories about society. Darwin was a reserved, thorough, hard working scholar who concerned himself with the feelings and emotions not only of his family, but friends and peers as well.

It has been supposed that Darwin renounced evolution on his deathbed. Shortly after his death, temperance campaigner and evangelist Lady Elizabeth Hope claimed she visited Darwin at his deathbed, and witnessed the renunciation. Her story was printed in a Boston newspaper and subsequently spread. Lady Hope's story was refuted by Darwin's daughter Henrietta who stated, “I was present at his deathbed ... He never recanted any of his scientific views, either then or earlier.”

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One of the most controversial books ever written, Darwin's "The Origin of Species" has helped shape the modern world. This edition also includes an introductory historical sketch and a glossary Darwin later added to the original text. Introduction by Walter Cronkite.

In "The Descent of Man," Charles Darwin considers first, whether humans, like every other species, are descended from some pre-existing form; second, the manner of human development; and third, the value of the differences between the so-called races of humans.

This study of Darwin's life combines biography and cultural history to show how Darwin's contemporaries were unable to appreciate precisely those aspects of his thinking that are considered scientifically important today.

Darwin: The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist
by Adrian Desmond and James Moore

A portrait of the naturalist and scientific theorist from a sociocultural point of view, and putting the theory of natural selection in that context. The authors explain Darwin's lifelong struggle between his own materialist science and a late-Victorian theology.

This documentary about the life of Charles Darwin details both his ideas and the contrast with religious and scientific norms of his day. The series combines dramatizations of key moments in Darwin's life with contemporary experts explaining the profound implications of natural selection and the theory of evolution.

This DVD takes viewers on a journey from the Galapagos Islands to the Arctic, and from the Cambrian explosion of animal forms half a billion years ago to the research labs of today, confirming the brilliance of Darwin's insights while exposing clues to life's breathtaking diversity in ways he could scarcely have imagined.